The Mariah Owners Club

The Mariah Owners Club (http://www.mariahownersclub.com/forum/)

- General Maintenance (http://www.mariahownersclub.com/forum/general-maintenance/)

- - Doh!! (http://www.mariahownersclub.com/forum/general-maintenance/675-doh.html)

I just realized I neglected to pull my batteries when I stored my boat (I was kinda pressed for time)....what do you think...have they got a prayer???? I'm thinking I better just plan on new ones when I pull it out....

Wow, and I though you were doing your Homer imitation....:D

Well it depends on how old and what kind they are and lastly, what state of charge they were in when you put your Talari away for the winter.

At this point, you've got nothing to lose so I would take them out and give them a good charge, then take them to any good automotive repair facility to have them load tested. Sears does this for free.

Some of the newer battery chargers on the market have a mode to help decrystalize the cells and possibly bring the battery back.

Good luck and let us know what happens,
WetWilly

I'd definitely get them checked out, there could be a chance they're still OK! But if they didn't make it, the local Wally World usually has good deals on deep cycle marine batteries.

I could be wrong, but I could have sworn I read something (possibly on Iboats) about marine batteries needing replacement after only about 2 seasons? Regardless of properly stored or not...?

Any thoughts / comments on that. I know my battery doesnt look "new" but it started my boat each time for the whole season last year. The mechanic where I store my boat gave me a :wink_thumbup: for the life of the battery before he handed it over to me.

I WAS doing my Homer imitation!!! Heck, I know better!! It wouldn't be so bad, but I've got 3 dang batteries! One cranking and two deep cycles for my hugeass stereo!! They were new last season....I'll give them a try...it won't be hard to see if they hold a charge....

I was in a hurry when I put it away, had plans on working on it the next few weekends back in late fall....got busy...then it got friggin cold........at least I had the engine winterized!! I don't want to buy ANOTHER 502!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by 180diablo (Post 3623)

I doubt there is any truth to that. My battery is at least 4 years old, and haven't had any trouble with it. Even when I almost completely drained it while attempting to start the thing with the kill switch off... :head_on_wall:

The main thing is to keep it charged up when not in use. My winter storage place pulls them from the boats and connects them up in a big room, where they only have to wander in and throw a switch about once a month.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 180diablo (Post 3623)

I could be wrong, but I could have sworn I read something (possibly on Iboats) about marine batteries needing replacement after only about 2 seasons? Regardless of properly stored or not...?

If properly maintained in the off season and you are not discharging the battery completely during the season, then there's no reason you're batteries shouldn't last 4-5 years at least. What we do is throw all of the batteries for our jet skis and the 2 boat batteries on a 4 bank battery charger/maintainer for the entire off season. This is what we got and it does an awesome job. Hook it up, plug it in, and forget about it until you go to install the batteries in the spring:

http://batterytender.com/product_inf...products_id=19

It's a trick setup because you attach the ring connectors to the battery and then it has plugs to connect to the charger so you can leave the leads connected to the battery and simply plug em into the charger when needed. This is nice if you're working on projects in the boat and have the stereo going or something. Just plug in the charger to the leads and you don't have to worry about killing the batteries. The leads are insulated so no worries about shocks or starting fires.